Natural Heritage Program List of Rare Plant Species of North Carolina 2021 Compiled by Brenda L. Wichmann, Botanist North Carolina Natural Heritage Program N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Raleigh, NC 27699-1601 www.ncnhp.org C ur Alleghany rit Ashe Northampton Gates C uc Surry am k Stokes P d Rockingham Caswell Person Vance Warren a e P s n Hertford e qu Chowan r Granville q ot ui a Mountains Watauga Halifax m nk an Wilkes Yadkin s Mitchell Avery Forsyth Orange Guilford Franklin Bertie Alamance Durham Nash Yancey Alexander Madison Caldwell Davie Edgecombe Washington Tyrrell Iredell Martin Dare Burke Davidson Wake McDowell Randolph Chatham Wilson Buncombe Catawba Rowan Beaufort Haywood Pitt Swain Hyde Lee Lincoln Greene Rutherford Johnston Graham Henderson Jackson Cabarrus Montgomery Harnett Cleveland Wayne Polk Gaston Stanly Cherokee Macon Transylvania Lenoir Mecklenburg Moore Clay Pamlico Hoke Union d Cumberland Jones Anson on Sampson hm Duplin ic Craven Piedmont R nd tla Onslow Carteret co S Robeson Bladen Pender Sandhills Columbus New Hanover Tidewater Coastal Plain Brunswick THE COUNTIES AND PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCES OF NORTH CAROLINA Natural Heritage Program List of Rare Plant Species of North Carolina 2021 Compiled by Brenda L. Wichmann, Botanist North Carolina Natural Heritage Program N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Raleigh, NC 27699-1601 www.ncnhp.org This list is dynamic and is revised every other year as new data become available. New species are added to the list, and others are dropped from the list as appropriate. Further information may be obtained by contacting the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, 1651 MSC, Raleigh, NC 27699-1651; by contacting the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, 1701 MSC, Raleigh, NC 27699-1701; or by contacting the North Carolina Plant Conservation Program, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 1060 MSC, Raleigh, NC 27699-1060. Additional information on rare species, as well as a digital version of this list, can be obtained from the Natural Heritage Program’s website at www.ncnhp.org. Cover Photo of Heteranthera reniformis (Kidneyleaf Mud-plantain) by Jennifer Stanley TABLE OF CONTENTS NORTH CAROLINA PLANT LIST – RARE…………………………..... 1 Vascular Plants…………………………………………………….. 1 Mosses……………………………………………………………... Liverworts…………………………………………………………. 9 Hornworts………………………………………………………….. 9 Lichens……………………………………………………….....…. 9 NORTH CAROLINA PLANT LIST – WATCH…………………………. 10 Vascular Plants……………………………………………………. 10 Mosses…………………………………………………………….. 14 Liverworts…………………………………………………………. 14 Hornworts…………………………………………………………. 15 Lichens……………………………………………………….....…. 15 PLANT TAXA ENDEMIC TO NORTH CAROLINA…………………….15 EXPLOITED PLANT TAXA IN NORTH CAROLINA………………….. 15 POTENTIAL NEW TO NORTH CAROLINA PLANTS………………….1 SIGNIFICANT 2021 REVISIONS TO THE PLANT LISTS…………….. 16 SCIENTIFIC NAME CHANGES TO THE PLANT LIST SINCE 2018......1 INDEX OF SCIENTIFIC NAMES……………………………………….....17 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This list was originally compiled and published by Alan Weakley in 1991. It has been revised and updated over the years by Alan Weakley, Jame Amoroso, Misty Franklin Buchanan, Laura Gadd Robinson, and Brenda L. Wichmann. Special thanks are given to Misty Buchanan, Wesley Knapp, Richard LeBlond, Michael Lee, Harry LeGrand, Suzanne Mason, Linda Rudd, Michael Schafale, Bruce Sorrie, and Alan Weakley for their involvement in the development of the list, to Jame Amoroso, Blanka Aguero, and Paul Davison for assistance with the bryophyte lists, and Gary Perlmutter for assistance with the lichen list. The list of people who have assisted in the preparation of the vascular plant list, provided information to the NCNHP on rare species occurrences, or otherwise contributed to our understanding of the rare flora of the state are too many to mention, but a partial list of recent contributors includes: Nell Allen, Herb Amyx, Pat Amyx, Geoff Austin, Rex Badgett, Chris Baranski, Moni Bates, Brady Beck, Sean Bloom, Alvin Braswell, Ben Brewer, Ken Bridle, Kevin Caldwell, David Campbell, Angie Carl, Owen Carson, Logan Clark, Crystal Cockman, Ed Corey, Olivia Dannemiller, Becky Dill, Jamey Donaldson, David Dumond, Bryan England, Matt Estep, Rob Evans, Laura Fogo, Sam Fritz, Sue Fruchey, John Fussell, Lisa Gaffney, Jeff Glitzenstein, Cheryl Gregory, Tom Govus, Janet Gray, Steve Hall, Karin Heiman, Jonathan Horton, Stephanie Horton, Tom Howard, Kimberly Israel, Alicia Jackson, Andrew Jenkins, Claudia Jolls, Gary Kauffman, Josh Kelly, Lisa Kelly, Jay Kranyik, Alexander Krings, Mike Kunz, Lenny Lampel, Ron Lance, Charles Lawson, Richard LeBlond, Kira Lideloff, Merrill Lynch, Jeff Marcus, Jim Matthews, David McAdoo, Carol Ann McCormick, Hervey McIver, Patrick McMillan, Rachel Milkereit, William Moye, Carl Nordman, Shawn Oakley, James Padgett, Cary Paynter, Bob Peet, Mark Peifer, Bubba Peifer, Dan Pittillo, Derick Poindexter, Gerald Pottern, Ben Pugh, April Punsalan, Milo Pyne, Lloyd Raleigh, Johnny Randall, Duke Rankin, Evan Raskin, Rebekah Reid, Jerry Reynolds, Jessica Roach, Mark Rose, Tim Savidge, Jess Schaner, Ed Schwartzman, John Shaw, Chris Sheats, Dale Shew, Roger Shew, David Siripoonsup, Alan Smith, Matt Smith, Jennifer Stanley, Lesley Starke, Dale Suiter, Megan Sutton, John Taggart, Craig Ten Brink, Samantha Tessel, Robert Thornhill, Mike Turner, Julie Tuttle, Chris Ulrey, Eric Ungberg, Andy Walker, Wade Wall, Danny Walsh, Bobby Ward, Tom Wentworth, Rickie White, Chris Wilson, and participants in the Carolina Vegetation Survey. Special recognition is given to Tom Patrick, who was the Georgia Natural Heritage Program’s first Botanist and contributed greatly for 33 years to plant conservation and the larger Natural Heritage network. He mentored many North Carolina botanists and provided information about habitat and distribution of rare species that occur in both Georgia and North Carolina. NORTH CAROLINA PLANT LIST – RARE INTRODUCTION The North Carolina Natural Heritage Program (NCNHP) conducts and maintains an inventory of known locations of rare animals and plants in the state as part of its mission to support conservation of natural areas. The primary functions of this inventory list are its use 1) in determining priorities for protection of the state’s most important natural areas and the plants and animals contained therein, 2) in determining priorities for inventory, and 3) by public agencies and private persons for environmental assessment and land management planning. The NCNHP is charged under the Nature Preserves Act (G.S. 143B-135.250 to 143B-135.272) with compiling and maintaining information relevant to the protection of North Carolina’s most important natural areas. NCNHP takes the lead role in North Carolina in the inventory of the state’s natural diversity and the identification of important natural areas and rare species habitats. The list incorporates the most recent federal status designations determined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for all animal and plant taxa native to North Carolina. Prior to 2018, NCNHP included Federal Species of Concern (FSC) as a federal status. The FSC list was collectively maintained by the North Carolina offices of the USFWS, but FSC is not an official federal status. Under the guidance of the USFWS Region 4 office, the Raleigh Ecological Services office has revised their focus toward At-Risk Species and as such the NCNHP no longer reports FSC as a federal status. The At-Risk Species list is a dynamic list that includes species proposed for listing under the ESA, Candidate species, and species that have been petitioned for listing. Please refer to the At-Risk Species Finder at https://www.fws.gov/southeast/finder/#/species/list for more information. This list also includes North Carolina legal status information from the N.C. Plant Conservation Program (NCPCP), a unit of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the agency responsible for the listing and protection of North Carolina’s endangered and threatened plants, under provisions of the North Carolina Plant Protection and Conservation Act (N.C. General Statutes - Chapter 106 Article 19B). The NCPCP List of North Carolina’s Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Plant Species can be found on the website: http://www.ncagr.gov/plantindustry/plant/plantconserve/. NCWRC is responsible for the listing and protection of the state’s nongame species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, freshwater fishes, mollusks, and crustaceans, under N.C. General Statutes - Chapter 113 Article 25. The NCNHP, NCPCP, NCWRC, and USFWS work cooperatively to ensure the continued survival of all of North Carolina’s rich flora and fauna. Over the past 40 years and continuing in the future, the advice and protection designations (for example, Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern) of scientific councils and committees have been considered in the creation of the list. Many species that lack formal legal protection are nonetheless imperiled in North Carolina. Therefore, NCNHP collects data on these species in addition to those classified under the three protection designations above and places them in two categories: Significantly Rare (SR) and Watch List (W). These species receive no special legal protection; rather, the designation is used to convey information about the species’ rarity within the state. The tracking of SR species, along with Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern species, plays a critical